Wilson, Blue Jackets cruise past listless Blackhawks

COLUMBUS, Ohio (Ticker) -- An unlikely hero helped the Columbus
Blue Jackets give the Chicago Blackhawks a taste of their own
medicine.

Defenseman Clay Wilson had a goal and an assist and Fredrik
Norrena stopped 17 shots as the Blue Jackets dealt the
Blackhawks' postseason hopes a major blow with a 4-0 victory on
Wednesday.

Joakim Lindstrom, David Vyborny and Michael Peca also tallied
for the Blue Jackets, who snapped a three-game skid.

With the win, Columbus (34-32-11) climbed within seven points of
the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference
with five games remaining. But it needs to pass four teams in
the standings in order to qualify for the postseason for the
first time since joining the NHL in 2000-01.

"It was a big game," Blue Jackets captain Rick Nash said. "Every
game is critical right now. We knew we didn't bring our best
game (Tuesday) night in Nashville. Tonight was a great effort."

After setting up Lindstrom for a power-play goal at 4:49 of the
second period, Wilson began a string of three straight tallies
in the third. An American Hockey League All-Star, Wilson was
playing in just his second NHL game after being recalled from
Syracuse on Monday.

"He's coming out of the AHL with some confidence," Blue Jackets
coach Ken Hitchcock said. "He's very smart moving forward with
the puck. He got himself in position on the one-timer, he
created the angle. Our players were excited for him."

Norrena, who is starting in place of the injured Pascal
Leclaire, barely had to work to record his second shutout of the
season. He stopped four shots in the first period, six in the
second and seven in the third en route to his fifth career
blanking.

Columbus, which had been outscored, 13-5, in its previous two
meetings with Chicago, turned the tables by outshooting the
Blackhawks, 36-16, and breaking open the game in the third.

"The last two times they came in our building, they embarrassed
us," Nash said. "A division team like that, you never like to
see that happen. Tonight, we answered the bell. It was one of
our best games in a while."

"They had just been crushing us the last two times they were
here," Norrena added. "We didn't seem to have a chance. Those
were the toughest two games I have played this year."

With Columbus already ahead, 1-0, Wilson scored his first career
goal on a slap shot from the slot that beat goaltender Nikolai
Khabibulin high to the glove side at 7:13 of the third.

"It's unbelievable," Wilson said. "I came up here not expecting
too much and just trying to keep things simple. Z (Nikolai
Zherdev) made a nice pass to me in the slot. Luckily, I closed
my eyes and the puck went in."

Vyborny made it 3-0 just 1:26 later, and Peca capped the scoring
with his sixth goal of the season at 11:57.

"The first four minutes, we played pretty good, came out pretty
strong," Chicago coach Denis Savard said. "Then we took some
bad penalties, gave them momentum and never recovered."

Khabibulin stopped 32 shots for Chicago (36-33-8), which had its
faint playoff hopes take a hit. The Blackhawks, who entered
3-1-1 in their previous five games, are six points back of the
final playoff spot in the West.

"We still have to battle and stay positive," Chicago All-Star
defenseman Duncan Keith said. "I don't know what else to say.
We have to look forward to the next game and give it everything
we've got. Obviously, it was tough to take. It was a big
game."